Victor Vasarely (1906–1997) Retrospective 15 May – 16 August 2026 Marking the 120th anniversary of the birth of Victor Vasarely, the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest presents a large-scale retrospective of the oeuvre of the Hungarian-born artist who achieved international renown in France. Running through mid-August, the exhibition takes a comprehensive approach to examining Vasarely’s art, which initiated one of the most significant shifts in twentieth-century visual thinking: it played a decisive role in the emergence of post-war geometric abstraction and Op art, and continues to shape how visual culture is understood today. Held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, which also celebrates the 120th anniversary of its opening this year, the displayed material comprises more than 140 works, accompanied by documents as well as previously unseen photographs and films. Together, these present Vasarely’s oeuvre with a completeness unprecedented in the history of exhibitions in Hungary. An exhibition of this scale organised from Vasarely’s works was last held in Hungary nearly sixty years ago, in 1969, at the Budapest Kunsthalle. The one opening now, several decades later, will provide a summative overview once again for Hungarian audiences. The jubilee exhibition draws primarily on the Budapest collection, which was founded by the artist and is the largest and most comprehensive public Vasarely collection in the world, while outstanding works not previously shown in Hungary have also been loaned from the Fondation Vasarely in Aix-en-Provence, along with artworks from the Vasarely Museum in Pécs and from private collections. The exhibition follows the main creative periods of Vasarely’s career in chronological order, from early figurative experiments through the mature systems of geometric abstraction to the deliberate construction of optical phenomena. The works on display convey a consistently developed conceptual arc, in which the relationship between form, colour and movement emerges not merely as an aesthetic concern but as a fundamental element of a modern visual language. Visitors will also gain an insight into Vasarely’s ambition to move art beyond the traditional confines of the studio, enabling it to shape everyday environments, architecture and urban space. The works are presented in five thematically and chronologically arranged units, titled Early Works, The Path toward Abstraction, The Birth of Kineticism, The Triumph of Optical Illusion, and Art for Everyone, allowing visitors to follow the artist’s creative path. After his turn towards abstraction, the question of movement became the focus in Vasarely’s art, albeit not in the conventional sense but rather through the act of visual perception. Kinetic art investigates various forms of movement, while Op art – of which Vasarely is one of the most significant figures – creates vibrating, seemingly shifting visual structures by means of optical effects. Closely linked to these aspirations is Vasarely’s programme of “art for everyone”, which set the democratisation of art as its objective: to establish a visual language that is reproducible, widely accessible and capable of shaping everyday environments, including architecture and urban spaces. Vasarely not only created a new visual universe but also formulated principles that sought to redefine the social role of art. The analytical rigour of black-and-white structures, the algorithmic logic of permutations, and the universal symbolic vocabulary of planetary folklore constitute successive stages of Vasarely’s consistently developed conceptual system: the elaboration of the idea that the movement and transformation of forms represent one of the most universal shared languages of modern man. Victor Vasarely is one of the most influential figures of geometric abstraction, regarded in art history as the father of Op art. Born in Budapest as Győző Vásárhelyi, he achieved international recognition in Paris, where his painting increasingly turned towards the study of the laws of vision and the development of visual systems. His oeuvre is associated with epochal movements that sought to harmonise art with scientific thinking and new forms of visual communication. From its Hungarian beginnings, through its unfolding and experimentation in Paris, to international recognition in kinetic and optical art, Vasarely’s career opens up a broad horizon that is rooted in Central European artistic traditions and at the same time connected to the most progressive trends of the international avant-garde. Although the artist spent most of his life in France, his Hungarian identity was manifest in the deeper layers of his visual sensibility and artistic thinking throughout. This is discernible not only in the titles of his works but also in the compositional rhythms and geometric structures in which elements of Hungarian folk ornamentation emerge. The exhibition is closely linked to the international reassessment that began with major exhibitions at the Städel Museum in 2018 and the Centre Pompidou in 2019, placing Vasarely’s oeuvre in new contexts and interpretative frameworks. Celebrating the 120th anniversary of Vasarely’s birth, a related chamber exhibition at the Hungarian National Gallery titled Kinetic Visions. Nicolas Schöffer and Victor Vasarely in Dialogue focuses on aspects that are less emphasised in the Museum of Fine Arts presentation but are nevertheless of key importance, with special attention to works from the Vonal (Line) Period. The exhibition Vasarely Don’t Go Home, open at the Neo Contemporary Art Space in Budapest’s City Park until mid-September, explores Vasarely’s impact on Hungarian art in the context of the experimental art of the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition is curated by Veronika Pócs, curator at the Vasarely Museum Budapest, and Mónika Zombori, museum curator at the Department of Art after 1800 in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. 1/6 ×